Monday, January 01, 2024
Vanya on 42nd Street
- Commentary: Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Wallace Shawn Vanya Julianne Moore Yelena Larry Pine Dr. Astrov Brooke Smith Sonya George Gaynes Prof. Serebryakov Phoebe Brand Marina/Nanny Jerry Mayer Telegin/Waffles Lynnn Cohen Vonenskaya/Maman
Adapted from Anton Checkov's play by David Mamet
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1994
Directed by Louis Malle.
Labels: julianne-moore, play-adaptation
Saturday, February 12, 2022
Good
- Commentary: Under Construction.
It was so hard to find a review of this film that I ended up attaching the watchers review page from IMDb to the title above. The reviews are, literally, all over the place. In addition, no one with any "critical" integrity, i.e., people who call themselves critics and are paid to publish as critics, wanted to touch this film. This surprises me because I really like this film, which is why I acquired it. It will, in fact, be the first film I'll watch in the batch I just received. Question for myself to answer: Are the scenes in which Mortensens' character imagines inmates singing in choruses and playing in small orchestras at a concentration camp in black and white or color? I remember them in black and white, but I'm wondering, now, if that's my edited, or correct, memory.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Viggo Mortensen John Halder Jason Isaacs Maurice Israel Glückstein Jodie Whittaker Anne Hartman Halder Steven Mackintosh Freddie Mark Strong Philipp Bouhler Gemma Jones Halder's Mother Anastasia Hille Helen Halder Adrian Schiller Goebbels
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 2008
Directed by Vincente Amorim.
Labels: §4, period6, play-adaptation, political5, tragedy2
Sunday, August 14, 2016
The Designated Mourner
- Commentary: This movie is difficult for me to write about. I bought it, unseen, for a few reasons: it was written by Wallace Shawn, who also wrote an all time favorite of mine, My Dinner with Andre. The title and the idea behind it have intrigued me for years. A year or so before I bought this movie I was writing a collection of poetry that I intended to title The Designated Mourner. Anyway, the movie is actually a subterranean take on the title. It's part prophetic, part mournful, part explanatory, part exploratory, all interior. I was very surprised and completely overtaken by it. The more I watch it, the more it edges into one of my all time favorites. It's a difficult movie, though, one I would never push on anyone, or probably even suggest, except under very certain, highly idiosyncratic circumstances.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Mike Nichols Jack Miranda Richardson Judy David de Keyser Howard
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1997
Directed by David Hare.
Labels: drama5, fantasy2, film-art1, haunting1, play-adaptation, political2, prophecy, tragedy1
